"This is an exciting and important event for online advertising and the Internet in general," said Peter Neupert, vice president of news and publishing for Microsoft. "A commitment from a company the size of Unilever will result in more engaging and compelling ads for consumers, innovative approaches to driving purchases and brand loyalty, and an overall expansion in the types of companies that advertise on the Internet." Unilever will advertise on Microsoft Web sites.

America Online said its work with Unilever will see as many as 100 of the companies' brands promoted in "contextually relevant areas covering such topics as cooking, entertainment, health and fitness, childcare, cosmetics and toiletries." Unilever will also have a global advertising presence on several of AOL's international services for specific packaged goods categories. International services covered by the agreement include AOL Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Japan and, later this year, Australia. AOL president Bob Pittman called the Unilever deal a "breakthrough agreement with one of the world's leading consumer packaged goods companies (which) underscores the growing power and momentum of interactive marketing and electronic commerce on a global scale."

Shares of DoubleClick Network Inc. (DCLK)
dclk
soared nearly 30 percent after the company said in a controversial report that it had the third-largest Internet advertising reach. DoubleClick said that according to Web researcher Media Metrix's estimates, its network of Web sites drew 29.4 percent of Internet users. That ranks DoubleClick No. 3, behind America Online (AOL)
aol
whose reach is estimated at 46.3 percent, and Yahoo's (YHOO)
yhoo
42.4 percent. The DoubleClick announcement also set off controversy within the advertising community. Skye Ketonen of rival Link Exchange branded the claim "totally false." In an e-mail to CBS.MarketWatch.com, Ketonen said, "DoubleClick had incomplete information from Media Metrix but chose to compare themselves to the top-rated sites before knowing the reach of other networks such as LinkExchange and Microsoft.com -- both of which are (surprise!) higher." DoubleClick had its own explanation. "The reason that the comparison is important is that that's how advertising is bought on the Internet," said Wenda Harris Millard, DoubleClick executive vice president of sales and marketing. "Advertisers have wanted to know as long as we've been in business, 'What is your reach and how does it compare (to other sites)?' Now we have an answer." See related story.

MCI Net test scores rise

The second annual MCI Great American Net Test results suggest Americans are becoming more expert online. Released Wednesday by MCI (MCIC)
MCIC, +30.00%
and a subsidiary of the Educational Testing Service, the average score was 82, up from last year's 78. Overall, the skill differential between men and women was insignificant, although women (with an average score of 82) scored marginally higher than men (80). Top score honors went to Baby Boomers and Generation Xers, who both averaged 84, the highest of any age category. Accolades go to Delaware, which had the highest state average of 94; condolences to Missouri, which had the lowest average at 65.

Internet users can now vote with their mouse on newsworthy topics every day through the Harris/Excite Poll on the Excite Inc. (XCIT)
xcit
Web site. Harris Black polling services, parent company of Louis Harris & Associates, oversees the online survey. It focuses on news items of national interest. Past questions included "Will Clinton's tobacco brand survey impact teen smoking?" and "Think Michael Jordan will retire from the NBA?" The daily poll counts an average of 20,000 votes.

American Express (AXP)
AXP, +0.24%
announced that it has made a minority investment in CitySearch, a developer of online city guides. The companies have also signed a joint marketing agreement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. CitySearch, headquartered in Pasadena, Calif., has 16 city sites launched or underway. "With CitySearch, we can provide customers with the local information they need and allow them to more easily learn about local merchants' products and services," explained Larry Kutscher, vice president of interactive enterprise development at American Express.

High speed Internet access service At Home Corp. (ATHM)
ATHM, -2.84%
will offer service through Jones Communications' Alexandria, Va., system serving 42,000 cable customers. America Online Inc. (AOL)
aol
headquarters is located a few miles away, in Dulles, Va. The deal with Jones was one of several new affiliation agreements announced by At Home, including others in New Jersey and Canada. Jones has been offering high speed Net access for some time, but has signed up only 1,200 customers. At Home said its service will be available by the end of the year.

At Home chief executive Thomas Jermoluk scoffed at AOL chairman Steve Case's statement last week indicating an interest in delivering high speed online service by buying broadband capability from At Home's soon-to-be controlling shareholder, AT&T. Case's comments "do nothing but anger cable operators such as ourselves," the At Home executive told the Washington Post. "If he expects us to put in all this plant ... and provide broadband high speed access to him without him sharing any of his revenue with us, he's nuts," Jermoluk said. "Nobody wants to be a dumb pipe in this equation."

Alta Vista expands content

Compaq Computer Corporation's (CPQ)
cpq
Alta Vista search service will add financial news and information from Individual Investor Group Inc. (INDI)
INDI, -0.71%
to its home page offerings. Chief executive officer Jonathan Steinberg called the deal "our most significant relationship to date because of Alta Vista's reach, and (it) has the most potential to drive revenue and traffic" to Individual Investor's own Web site (www.iionline.com). The Alta Vista pact is the publishing company's tenth such content arrangement in the past several months.

ZDNet redesigns tech site

Ziff-Davis (ZD)
zd
has unveiled a new "technology portal" design for ZDNet's home page (www.zdnet.com). The layout is similar to those used by search engines and other Web directories, including links to categories of information, several late news headlines, and pointers to featured articles on the site. ZDNet's online make over follows by a few weeks a similar bare bones, functional layout organization of its site introduced by ZDNet competitor CMPnet. ZDNet said its retooling has been modeled after the Web's general portal sites, such as Yahoo! (YHOO)
yhoo
and Excite Inc. (XCIT)
xcit
. Editor in chief Dan Farber said "We're excited to provide our users with a central access point, and expect that many will choose to default to this new home page."

Web site spending to triple

Market researcher ActivMedia said a survey of Web site managers indicates that spending will rise to $1.2 billion on new site technology and service in 1998 and triple that by 1999. "This is only the beginning," said vice president Harold Wolhandler, saying his study of the potential of electronic commerce predicts Web site investment will reach $24 billion by 2002. He said businesses are making these investments today to reach consumers now and tomorrow, too. " Just think of the possibilities when digital TV brings the power of the Internet to the masses," he said. "Engaging the prospective buyer into the selling process through interactive clickable TV ads that whisk them out to a business's site to close the sale will be possible."

Overall, three in four business-to-consumer Web sites (73 percent) have budgeted for the coming year for external Web site hardware, software, hosting and services. A fourth of those intend to invest over $50,000, considering the Web a strategic investment, not just an advertising or promotional communications vehicle.

Movie studio association rates Web sites

The Motion Picture Association of America has extended its rating system to the Internet. The MPAA reviews the content of studio Web sites, according to E! Online. Association executive vice president Bethlyn Hand sent a letter to the studios in June saying Internet content would be held to the same standards the MPAA uses to regulate print, television and radio advertising. After initial reluctance, the studios agreed to go along with the new rules, the report said.

'Spamford' returns in online chat

Sanford Wallace, once known as the Spam King, heads up a panel which will debate issues surrounding unsolicited e-mail advertising in an online chat Wednesday hosted by TheGlobe.com (www.theglobe.com). Others participating include Steve Krein, president of online promotions firm WebStakes; and David Sorkin, assistant professor specializing in technology and privacy law at John Marshall Law School. The hour-long event is set to begin at 7 p.m. eastern.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only. Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.